Vanilla Islands’ latest addition Maldives receives warm welcome by founding members at Top Resa

Alain St.Ange, the President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands, and also the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, accompanied by all the Founding Members of the Indian Ocean Tour

Alain St.Ange, the President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands, and also the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, accompanied by all the Founding Members of the Indian Ocean Tourism Organization, used the Top Resa Tourism Trade Fair in Paris to publicly welcome Maldives as their latest Member State in the organization. Minister Alain St.Ange of the Seychelles; Minister Michael Sik Yuen of Mauritius; Pascal Viroleau, the CEO of the Vanilla Islands; and representatives of Madagascar, La Reunion, and Mayotte met with Fathimath Afra, the Deputy Director of the Maldives Tourism, at the Maldives stand at Top Resa for a photo opportunity for the gathered press. “It was a great opportunity to show publicly that we all welcome Maldives as our latest Member State,” Alain St.Ange, the President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands said.

Earlier in the morning, Minister St.Ange, in his capacity as the President of the Vanilla Islands, was accompanied by Pascal Viroleau, the CEO of the Vanilla Islands, to meet with Fathimath Afra, the Deputy Director of the Maldives Tourism, and discuss expectations of Maldives as the new seventh member of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands Organization.

Maldives took their seat as part of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands at the last ministerial meeting of the organization that was held earlier this month in La Reunion Island. The Maldives has now joined the Seychelles, La Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, and Mayotte, and together they are all being promoted as the new tourism region and as a destination in its own right.

Maldives is now determined to play its part in full as a Vanilla Islands Member. They have requested for a future ministerial meeting to be held in the Maldives, and they welcomed the plan to have a Vanilla Islands Village at the Tourism Trade Fairs to bring together the seven islands and for everyone to be seen as a region wanting tourism to be consolidated for the benefit of the people of the seven islands.

Maldives is also looking at which of their national events they will have listed as the Vanilla Islands event. Today, Seychelles has their Carnaval International de Victoria; La Reunion has their 20th December Journee Metisse, the day marking the abolition of slavery; Madagascar has their Tourism Fair of the Indian Ocean; and it is expected that the other islands will soon announce their own events to be listed as Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands events.

Top Resa was the opportunity for Pascal Viroleau, the CEO of the Vanilla Islands, to discuss strategies and plans with Maldives and to ensure they are well briefed on the organization.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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